


Magic in Truth and Honesty

by story_telling_sage



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Fear of Rejection, Happy Ending, potterprideweek
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 13:32:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11291682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/story_telling_sage/pseuds/story_telling_sage
Summary: The Golden Trio and their queer experiences of coming out to their family.Chapter One:Hermione told her mom first...





	Magic in Truth and Honesty

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! I'm participating in potterprideweek on tumblr! This is something I wrote for youth day and a story I plan on continuing with the rest of the golden trio and possibly other characters. If you have any requests, thoughts, comments, or criticisms please let me know! If I handle something poorly please reach out to me either here or on my tumblr, hannabbott. I'm very queer, but I can't promise to get everything right and the last thing I want to do is hurt someone with my stories.
> 
> The title is from Frank Ocean's coming out letter: "I hadn’t been happy in so long. I’ve been sad again since, but it’s a totally different take on sad. There’s just some magic in truth and honesty and openness."
> 
> Enjoy!

Hermione told her mom first. In the summer between her fourth and fifth year there was a war brewing. There were more important things than Sunday trips to the library to worry about. But here they were, sitting outside that little stone building, being sure not to drip ice cream onto their new paperbacks. 

“Are you going to tell me what’s been bothering you now?” her mum asked as Hermione licked up the last of her chocolate strawberry ice cream. It didn’t surprise Hermione that her mum knew something was bothering her, but Hermione just didn’t know where to start. She wanted to tell her mother everything.

About the gray hairs Harry was going to give her with the facing dragons, and the fighting with Ron, and the being hunted down by a Dark Lord. She wanted to talk about Ron and his stubborn heart and his own panicky loyalty. She wanted to tell her about all the fears and worries weighing on her spine. But there was also this:

_I kissed Tracy Davis behind the greenhouses after Herbology and I think I want to do it again._

Hermione knew what that meant. Countless hours in the Hogwarts library, a few outings to the muggle village not far from school for their internet connection, and talking to Tracy and some other girls gave Hermione quite a few answers indeed.

Same sex attraction. Lesbianism, that’s what the books called it. Or bisexuality. Hermione wasn’t sure which label was for her, but the books were helping. Books always helped. 

But while those books talked about sex and gender being two different concepts, the ability of one to both want to kiss boys and girls or to not want to kiss anyone at all, there was one thing those books would never be able to tell her. 

Would her parents still love her, after they knew?

So while her mother waited patiently, eating her pistachio ice cream cone lick by lick, Hermione thought. Thought about books and pamphlets and all the learning she had crammed into her head without telling another soul. The way her soul felt like it would burst if she tried to tamper this down any harder. So Hermione promptly let herself stop thinking at all.

“I’m gay!” she blurts out, talking more to her half eaten sugar cone than the woman sitting next to her. “Bisexual actually. I think. I’m not sure. But I kissed her and I liked it so I obviously like girls but I’ve never kissed a boy so there’s insufficient data, and I know- I know- it’s not a phase, or something. I don’t think, and I know- I know- I know-”

_I know it’s not the done thing._

_I know you might hate me for this._

_I know I can’t change this part of me._

_Please don’t ask me to change._

_I know I couldn’t handle that._

_I know. I know. I know._

Her mum didn’t say anything even as the words stopped rushing out of Hermione’s mouth almost as abruptly as they had started. Hermione didn’t want to risk looking up at that familiar face and seeing something. Disgust. Contept. Hatred. Hermione had spent most of her time in primary school trying to memorize the dictionary. She had a lot of adjectives that might apply here. None of them good.

Hermione wasn’t sure the world wouldn’t break under her if she didn’t see the same look her mother always reserved just for her. A look of gentle affection, love, and pride. 

But Hermione wasn’t one of Gryffindor’s chosen for nothing. She raised her chin and met her mother’s eyes and what she saw there made her feel like everything inside of her was rushing out and rushing back in at the same time. Suffocating and all consuming. 

There was a steady thoughtfulness to those blue eyes that Hermione knew well. Accepting new information and processing it. But behind that thoughtfulness, behind to academia, there was still that love. That absolute love, shining bright.

When her mom stood from the curb to pull her daughter into a hug, for the briefest moment, Hermione let her worries wash away. Because nothing could change this. When they eventually pulled apart her mum glanced back at the library.

“Guess I’ve got some learning to do then, little bird,” she said.

“Always something new to learn,” Hermione replied, her watery smile too close to tears for comfort. But it didn’t matter, not really. Because nothing could change this. Not a war. Not the fact that she fancied girls. 

Nothing in this world could change their Sundays at the library.


End file.
